Journalists Talk

hi everybody,
i equally zarina's comments on this very important matter. i feel that as we go to the polls in a few days' time journalists in the country should be seen to be above board. let us  conduct ourselves in a professional manner stop being partisan and siding with anybody let the public be the final judge. posterity will judge those journos that are siding with politicians.
abash unprofessionalism
i rest my case
evans.
 
zarina geloo <zgeloo@yahoo.com> wrote:

Hi all,

 I read the Post editorial and like Mervin i think an opion is just that,We know the Post and its leanings. There is an interesting conundrum here. The Post and Sata are tight, the post is un movable (if there is a word like that) when it comes to corruption. Sata says he will review the charges against Chiluba et al with a view to dropping them because like many, there appears to be a lot more questions than answers. so how does the post treat its best friend in these circumstances?i think they had no choice but to hammer Sata - but I suspect Sata probably saw the editoral before it was published in a way of letting him know what was coming. As for journos being partisan where did tht come from? a journo's job is to report not make decisions for others.

Mervin Syafunko <syafunko@yahoo.com> wrote:

Dear Elias,
I did not want to get involved in this partisan debate
but the comment you have circulated has provoked me.
The idea is, as journalists and ethically speaking, we
are not to take partisan sides in the course of our
duty. And over this matter, anyone who went to a
journalism school worth its sort should not argue
about it.
AS INDIVIDUALS in our private capacity we can support
a candidate of our choice.
As for the comment in the Post it's a pity I cannot
read the whole comment hear in Windhoek on the net
since they have now commercialised the online version
of the Post.
However from what you jotted down I don't think there
is anything wrong with the editorial. The Post as an
individual entity is simply telling the masses of what
it thinks Sata is capable of doing. Actually I wonder
why it has taken so long for them to say it out.
Look without being subjudicial, it's clear that
Chiluba is facing serious criminal charges and Sata
says he is going to quash all the cases FTJ is facing
once he gets into power. Honestly where does this
leave the judicial system? They are the only competent
organ to decide whether the guy is innocent or not.
Why should it take the president (that is if Sata
wins) to pass the judgement.
As responsible journalists we should raise these
issues without having to take the role of cadres.
The comment by the Post is not misguided. As
journalists we should not forget so easily. Look at
what happened in Chawama when Sata led a pack of
panga-wielding MMD cadres to go attack voters who were
opposed to the MMD and have you forgotten about the
K2billion that was hauled from National Assembly to
fund the MMD conenvetion in Kabwe not very long ago.
Sata, Machungwa and late Mandandi were behind the
scandal. The scandal are too many to tabulate!
The good thing about the Post's comment is that it is
not campaigning for any candidate like Derrick is
campaigning for Sata.
So long for now,
Mervin
--- Zacomef Project wrote:

> Dear All,
>
>
>
> Mr. Derrick Sinjela has challenged the Zambian
> community media to take
> sides and make their views known in this year's
> Zambian presidential
> election. I have therefore taken some excerpts from
> today editorial on
> one of Zambia privately-owned paper The Post for us
> to discuss and
> analyze.
>
>
>
> "Sata is a reckless opportunist who would sell
> anybody and anything for
> politics. Sata will not hesitate to divide any group
> or people if that
> will give him power - he is a very decisive
> character.
>
>
>
> "Zambians should not be cheated by people who are
> promising to look
> after them after they failed to do so when they were
> in the office.
> These people want to return to office in order to
> continue their plunder
> of natural resources. Whatever we do, we should not
> give GIVE people our
> VOTE so that they plunder our economy again."
>
>
>
> Quote from the Zambian Post Newspaper entitled DON'T
> ALLOW THIEVES TO
> GOVERN 19/09/06 in reference to Mr. Michael Sata of
> the Patriotic Front,
> Zambia's leading political party in this year's
> election.
>
>
>
> Specifically I would like our academicians from the
> schools and
> departments of journalism and media studies to tell
> us what they think
> about the challenge that Derrick threw to us and
> advise how we should go
> about this issue.
>
>
>
> I would also like to hear the views of other media
> institutions about
> this approach. Should we trash candidates in an
> election and influence
> voters to vote for our preferred candidate?
>
>
>
> Elias
>
>
>
> The Coordinator

---

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